


since when did "i wanna hear your voice" not become a good excuse?

by breadpoetsociety (orphan_account)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, College, Journalism, M/M, Voltron Secret Valentine 2017, lance tries his best and i love him very much, student journalist au, this is a gift!!!!, very lance centric LOL, very self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 09:21:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9812999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/breadpoetsociety
Summary: “I’m, um,” Lance was smiling more to himself than to Hunk, eyes trained to Twitter but not really looking. “I’m doing a story on Keith Kogane.”“That dude from high school that you were really into?” Lance huffed indignantly, jacket starting to slip down his arms a little bit. Hunk just smiled. “Why him?”And now Lance was uncharacteristically silent, still staring at Hunk’s computer screen, like he was pretending not to hear. Hunk couldn’t help but to sigh and pat his buddy’s thigh.“There is no story there, is there, Lance,” he said.“No.” Lance’s resolve broke, and he practically wailed. “But he’s so cute, Hunk, I just want talk to him forever.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!! this is my voltron secret valentine gift to @min-kumamon-suga (on tumblr)!!! here we have some student journalist lance dealing with cute boys and insecurity and school stress, and keith just being charming the whole time, and hunk being one heck of a bro. simple valentine fun lmao. i hope you enjoy the fic and had a great v-day!!!!!

Lance watched the text cursor blink on the Google Doc, scrolling quickly down to the bottom of the daily budget (1). There, below plans for tomorrow’s pages, was his name garishly highlighted: “Espinosa– still waiting on story ideas!!!!”

He groaned, head meeting desk. The rest of the newsroom was pretty quiet, save for some laughter in the management offices. People wouldn’t start flowing in for work for another few hours, giving Lance plenty of time to mope– until the editor’s office opened up and a large figure headed towards Lance’s dying form.

A large hand clapped onto Lance’s back, shocking him back to life. “What’s up, dude?” Lance leaned back the creaky chair and stared up into his best friend’s face.

“Just stressed,” he answered honestly.

“I take it you saw budget then,” Hunk replied with a wry smile. “Don’t let it get you down, dude. You were campus editor last semester, it’s not bad to take a semester off.”

“I didn’t take a semester off, though,” Lance said, running his hands through his hair. “For whatever godforsaken reason I got roped into investigations. I don’t investigate!”

Hunk laughed a little and nudged his friend. “You could, though. You always came up with good ideas.”

“Lance Espinosa: great ideas, shit execution,” Lance said dryly. He reached under the desk he was sitting at, extracting a lacrosse stick with ball already in its net (2). Hunk took the cue and grabbed his own stick from next to region’s desk.

“Well, if you could execute anything, what would you want to do?” Hunk asked, coaxing his friend to work through the problem.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Lance stood, casually stepping to the left to toss the lacrosse ball, cradling his stick expertly. "I mean, Jack told me if I wanted to follow up on his oxy story I could? But I really don't see myself doing something that hard hitting."

"You really don’t fit on investigations, do you," Hunk said with a laugh. Lance aimed a little closer for his head that time.

"I just..." Lance sighed, exasperated. "I want to find something i'm passionate about, you know? I feel like drugs isn't that.”

“You never know, though,” Hunk said contemplatively. “I didn’t expect to like working on arts and I’m loving it.”

"I thought about covering LGBT issues in town," Lance continued musing aloud. "I might just go out and see if there's anything I can glean from that.”

Hunk smiled again. "Not a bad idea. I'm sure you'll find someone you want to follow around for the rest of your collegiate career.”

"It’s not that long, thank god." Lance laughed, catching the ball in his stick's stiff net. "But thanks dude. hope you're right." Another toss– and a wish on the shooting lax ball flying across the newsroom.

“Are you closing tonight?” Lance asked Hunk, tossing his lax stick unceremoniously underneath his old desk again. Hunk nodded. “Cool, I’ll see you when I get back then.” And with a high-five and a quick snatch of his notebook, Lance was trotting out the newsroom door.

★   ★   ★

The air was cool against his face– comfortable though, in his jacket. It was much warmer than February usually was, but Lance wasn’t about to complain. If he had to be out searching for… whatever he was searching for, the weather might as well cooperate.

Three quick interviews down, and Lance was still not feeling any closer to having a story to follow. Nothing was catching his eye– all the LGBT issues in town were linked closely to politics, and after being a desk editor for a major student publication during the election season, Lance was ready to forget that government even existed.

Lance shoved his reporter’s notebook into his jacket pocket, wandering aimlessly now. Even with the warm weather, the streets were pretty dead. Maybe that could be his story: Garrison University Exists In Vacuum; Literally No One Else Around–

Except for that guy sitting on a bench outside the library, staring at the flip phone in his hands. Great. Lance groaned inwardly, building up the energy to introduce himself as a reporter of the Garrison Daily Student when he realized he didn’t _have_ to be doing any introducing.

“Kogane?” Lance stopped short, eyes wide and trained to the man sitting on the bench, dark hair familiar even three years later. “Keith Kogane! Holy shit.”

Lance was surprised it took him more than a second to recognize Keith– the guy was a fixture throughout all of high school, someone Lance both greatly admired and envied. Keith seemed to have it all: great grades, guys _and_ girls hanging off of him, and he was the school’s star quarterback senior year. Keith could even pull off one of the shittiest hairstyles man had ever invented, and for years Lance had wanted to do nothing more than to run his fingers through it. But he never had the balls to do anything about it, let alone really talk to the guy.

However! Lance Espinosa was no longer the gangly, pimple-ridden high schooler looking up to Keith Kogane. Swim team gave him a great figure, tight jeans gave him the best cheese on campus, and a reporting job gave him reason to go up and talk to whoever with a decent enough excuse.

Today, whoever was Keith Kogane. Lance smiled confidently and extended a hand to the still-seated man.

Keith looked Lance up and down, settling on glaring at the proffered hand, before asking in an uninterested tone: “Who are you?”

“Um,” Lance fumbled. “Lance. Lance Espinosa? We graduated high school together, came to GU together?”

“Oh, right,” Keith mumbled to himself, looking down at his phone again. Christ, Lance forgot how good looking Keith was– all sharp angles but soft looks, marred only by the charming display of personality he was privy to: “You were the kid flunking out of calc.”

“I didn’t flunk out,” Lance crossed his arms, now officially annoyed. “But sorry not all of us are math geniuses.”

“And I don’t go to GU,” Keith finished, as though Lance hadn’t said anything. “Was there a reason you were coming to talk to me?”

“Yeah, actually,” Lance seated himself next to Keith and flashed him as smile, ignoring the half-horrified look coming from the Korean man. “I work for the Garrison Daily Student and I’m doing a story on diversity in Sierra Vista. I’ve been talking to people around town all day about issues specifically in the LGBT community and wondered if you’d have any interest in talking to me about it.”

Keith glared at him. “Is this a fucking joke?”

“Woah, why would it be?” Lance said, hands flying up like a white flag. “Like I said, I’m just wandering around town.”

“Why would you want my opinion?” Keith brow somehow furrowed more.

“Well, you live here, don’t you?” Lance said, swinging an arm around behind Keith’s back. _Smooth_. “What do you say we meet up for coffee one day and we can talk about it?”

Keith gave one glance to the arm and then stared back at Lance, grey eyes wide with an unreadable emotion. “Sure thing,” and after jotting down his number onto Lance’s notepad, he up and left.

★   ★   ★ 

Lance Lance Revolution ★ to: 516-555-6097

 

February 6, 2017

(9:15) Hi Keith, this is Lance Espinosa. Was wondering if you’d be free to get together sometime and talk. I’m pretty free during the week so just let me know your schedule.

(9:21) _Is today good?_

(9:22) _I’m free today._

(9:23) sure thing, want to grab coffee somewhere on campus? Starbucks at 11 work for you?

(9:31) _Sounds all right. See you then_.

 

New contact saved: Keithy Kogane

★   ★   ★ 

“Keith!” Lance called to the man as soon as he stepped foot in the Starbucks, not even giving him a moment to smell the coffee beans before he bounced into his face. “Good to see you, man. I was waiting for you to get here to get a drink.”

“Doesn’t seem like you really need one,” Keith replied, playing with the too-long sleeves of his red hoodie.

Oh god, Lance thought. He’s adorable.

They stood in line together, silence only not-awkward by virtue of their being in a loud coffeeshop. Relief came at the front of the line, when Lance sidled up and started his order.

“I’ll take a venti vanilla sweet cream cold brew, please, and,” he turned around, smiling brightly at the man behind him. “Keith, what do you want?”

Keith started, eyes wide. “Just a mocha with soy milk, please.”

“A mocha with soy milk,” Lance finished with a grin and a flourish of his gold membership card. “Thanks a bunch!”

Lance confidently led Keith to a table, waiting to hear their drinks called. It was only when he grabbed out his reporter's notebook that he blanched– _reporting_ . Fuck. You’re not supposed to buy your subjects a drink! Or anything! That’s ethical no-no number one and Lance broke it on _interview number one_ (3).

But he really wanted to buy Keith that drink. And many more drinks. Lance swallowed his fear, vowing to deal with this ethical conundrum with Hunk later.

“So,” he began, hand poised over an open notebook and smile turned to full brightness. “Tell me about yourself.”

Keith did not look amused. “You know me, Lance.”

“Well, pretend I don’t. Just like how you didn’t know me,” Lance responded, a little more harshly than he intended. Keith awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, looking down at the table with a blush.

“I actually did recognize you,” he muttered. “I have no idea why I said I didn’t. I just… Panicked.” And now Keith wasn’t the only one blushing.

“Well,” Lance stuttered, trying to regain some of his bravado. “That makes more sense. I wouldn’t have expected you to forget me.”

“You’re almost impossible to,” Keith said dryly, and Lance couldn’t help but to laugh.

★   ★   ★ 

“Where were you?” Hunk called, sensing his friend’s return to the newsroom. Other editors were sat at their designated stations, editing stories or eating dinner.

“Out, interviewing,” Lance perched himself on his friend’s editing desk, watching Hunk scroll through an endless Twitter stream.

“With who?” Hunk asked through a mouthful of Fritos, offering the bag to Lance. Lance declined– and that got Hunk’s attention.

“I’m, um,” Lance was smiling more to himself than to Hunk, eyes trained to Twitter but not really looking. “I’m doing a story on Keith Kogane.”

“That dude from high school that you were really into?” Lance huffed indignantly, jacket starting to slip down his arms a little bit. Hunk just smiled. “Why him?”

And now Lance was uncharacteristically silent, still staring at Hunk’s computer screen, like he was pretending not to hear. Hunk couldn’t help but to sigh and pat his buddy’s thigh.

“There is no story there, is there, Lance,” he said.

“ _No_.” Lance’s resolve broke, and he practically wailed. “But he’s so cute, Hunk, I just want talk to him forever.”

“You could, you know, just ask him to hang out like a normal person,” Hunk said, swiveling his chair around to face his friend head-on.

“No way, man,” Lance said, hopping up off the desk and adjusting his olivey jacket back onto his shoulders. His smile was confident: “This way is _way_ easier.”

“There is no way that this way is easier,” Hunk deadpanned. He started to stand to make his friend focus on the merits of truth-telling–

But Lance was already out the door, stuttering something about needing to prepare for an interview with Keith the next day. Hunk just sighed and sat back down with his Fritos, giving a bemused smile to the other people in the newsroom.

★   ★   ★ 

Lance Lance Revolution ★ to: Keithy Kogane

 

February 8, 2017

(3:29) this cat looks like you i swear to god

(3:59) _Oh my fuck Lance please go to sleep_.

(4:01) you admit it looks like you though

 

February 9, 2017

(11:15) coffee today?

(11:21) _Sounds good to me. Same time same place?_

(11:23) Sounds great.

★   ★   ★

 “So yeah, I couldn’t stay at GU without scholarship, so I just found a cheap apartment downtown and I’ve been working at the library and at the Village Deli since,” Keith was saying, eyes trained to the fake wood of the coffee shop table. “My older brother Shiro TA’s here, so it’s nice having him around. I keep telling him I’m going back to school but it’s probably a lie.”

Lance’s note-taking hand had slowed to only write major keywords– “Library, Shiro (!!!!), a lie.” Instead, he was staring intently at the man in front of him. Keith had worn his hair up in a ponytail today and it was immensely distracting.

“So, yeah,” Keith said nervously, eyes meeting Lance’s for the first time in a while. His cheeks were lightly dusted in pink. “Not sure if that’s what you need for your story, but…”

“I’ll be honest, Keith.” Lance looked down at his notes. “I’m not sure where this story is going. But you’re a super interesting guy and I think there is a story here.”

Keith scoffed at that, hands wrapping around his latte– with soy milk, Lance noted. “I’m not sure why the GDS would want to run a story about a drop-out, but all right.”

“I think they’d be happy to run anything as long as it has my name on it,” Lance said wryly. Keith cocked an eyebrow. “Not that I’m special. Just that they’re paying me and I have nothing to show for it.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah,” Lance sighed. “I’ve been working for the GDS for a year or so now, and last semester I was the campus desk editor, so I obviously had a lot to do for that.”

Keith nodded in faux understanding.

“But this semester I’m supposed to be on investigations, but I’m just not really feeling it, and I don’t even really know if I want to do journalism at all.” Lance’s hands were animated along with his words. “I mean, I was supposed to be ROTC but they wouldn’t accept me and it’s too late now.”

Now it was Keith’s turn to study Lance, whose blue eyes were trained towards the table, hands fidgeting even in silence.

“Sorry, sorry.” Lance couldn’t let the silence hang for too long. It made his skin crawl. “This is an interview, I shouldn’t be talking about myself–”

“It’s fine, Lance. I actually appreciate it.” Keith gave him the smallest of smiles, and Lance could swear he heard the trumpets of heaven.

★   ★   ★ 

Lance Lance Revolution ★ to: Keithy Kogane

February 9, 2017

(5:29) _I had a great time at our interview today. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. And for the coffee._

★   ★   ★

 

Lance wasn’t sure if the spring in his step could be attributed to the George Michael blasting out of his earbuds or the great interview– date?– he just had with Keith, but he was one hundred percent certain that it was squelched by the voice of his boss.

“Espinosa,” the white-haired editor-in-chief called, stalking past him into your office. “A word, please.”

“Be there in a sec, Allura,” Lance forced out. He dropped his backpack at Hunk’s desk and meekly made his way into her office, leaning against a bookshelf.

“Lance,” Allura sighed out, looking at him exasperatedly. “You’re not pulling your weight around here. I’m going to have to take you off staff if I don’t start getting stories from you.”

“I’m working on one right now!” Lance squawked, hands nervously wringing.

“Hunk was telling me about your idea and I don’t believe it has any news merit,” Allura said. She was firm, not unkind, but the words still stung. “Jack offered you follow on his story; why don’t you take that?”

“It doesn’t interest me at all,” Lance said, just as firmly this time.

“Well, just because cute boys interest you doesn’t mean you report on them.” Allura stood up and curtly nodded towards the door, following Lance out. “Find something or find another job.”

And with that, she turned on her heel to head to the design stations. Lance was frozen for only a moment before dashing outside, trying not to feel the burn of her words on his skin.

★   ★   ★

Lance Lance Revolution ★ to: Keithy Kogane

February 9, 2017

(5:42) I had a great time too… you’re fun to talk to

(5:43) _You make it fun, Lance._

(5:46) _You’re a really great guy._

★   ★   ★

Hunk found his friend pacing outside the newsroom backdoor, lit only by a flickering street lamp and muttering to himself.

“Lance, don’t worry about it,” he said soothingly, not even needing explanation as to what’s going on. “It’s only February. You’ll find something, it’ll be easy.”

“Nothing’s ever fucking easy for me, Hunk,” Lance said, voice cracking. “Nothing has ever been easy and it’ll never be easy and I can’t do anything about it.”

“Lance, you know that’s not true,” Hunk said firmly. “Things might not be easy, but you still can get stuff done. You’ve done great shit, dude.”

“Oh cut the positivity crap, Hunk,” Lance said, pacing stopped in favor of him staring off into the distance. “You know, I love you but sometimes that’s just bullshit.”

The silence between them hung heavy until Lance cracked further.

“I mean, for christ’s sake, I can’t even get accepted into ROTC, man! That’s supposed to be easy,” Lance was practically tearing his hair out by this point. “But nothing is fucking easy. Except Keith!”

Hunk blanched. “Lance, I’m not sure this is information I nee–”

“Keith is easy.” Lance’s interruption was soft, voice going from worried to wistful. The cool night air billowed his jacket around his lean frame. “I mean, not really, because Keith is a stubborn prick but it’s easy because he makes me happy, Hunk. And god, hasn’t it been forever since something has done that?”

Hunk silently walked over to his friend and wrapped him into a tight hug. “Maybe you should be honest with Keith about that, then. You might be surprised how much happier you’d both be.”

“Thanks, Hunk,” Lance sighed, returning the hug. “I hope you’re right.”

★   ★   ★

Lance Lance Revolution ★ to: Keithy Kogane

February 10, 2017

(10:29) we need to talk

(10:30) can we talk?

(10:30) coffee?

(10:43) _… All right? I can be there at 2._

(10:45) see you then.

★   ★   ★

Lance only allowed a few seconds of silence before starting to talk, leading Keith over to a table while the words practically vomited out of his mouth.

“Look, Keith, I haven’t been honest with you.” Lance plopped into a seat and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “And I haven’t even been honest with myself.”

Keith looked petrified, but Lance pushed forward: “Like… I don’t think we could do a story on you. There’s just nothing newsworthy in it for the paper. But you’re so god damn interesting to me I couldn’t stop myself from just wanting to talk to you every day.”

Keith seemed to have turned into stone, which certainly wasn’t helping Lance’s confidence. “I mean, look.” Lance pushed his notebook towards Keith. “I’m not even taking notes anymore. I haven’t for a week.

“I just… I want to take you out. And spend proper time with you. And make you want to spend time with me, and earn that time, and not just get it because of some stupid news story.”

Keith sat still silent, but only for a moment, before grabbing Lance’s hand in a vice-like grip.

“Thank fuck,” he said, smile ghosting his face. “I’m pretty sure... Wouldn’t this be super unprofessional if you were still reporting on me?”

Lance couldn’t help but beam, lacing his fingers together with Keith’s. “I threw ethics out the window a long time ago, for you, babe.” Keith flushed, and they both laughed.

 

★   ★   ★ 

Lance Lance Revolution ★ to: Keithy Kogane ♥

February 14, 2017

(8:29) babeeeeeee

(8:29) did you see the paper today

(8:30) _No._

(8:31) _I assume I should_.

(8:33) you’re p1 ;)))

★   ★   ★ 

**GARRISON DAILY STUDENT**

**HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY EAGLES!**

“GU GETS RESUME BUILDING WIN - JAKE THOMPSON P3”

“PANELISTS PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO RESUME BUILDING - ANDREW WILLIAMS P6”

“HOW I MET MY BOYFRIEND: FINDING LOVE THROUGH FRAUDULENT REPORTING - LANCE ESPINOSA P2”   


**Author's Note:**

> this fic is based very much off of my own experiences in student journalism, so i thought i'd annotate some things down here to clarify anything that might not be obvious. 
> 
> firstly, the title comes from "twelve feet deep" by the front bottoms. 
> 
> (1) a newspaper's budget is a list of all the various desk's proposals for what they want in the paper the next day. it's named such because it budgets space, instead of dollars. a daily paper like the garrison daily student would have a constantly updating budget page– except for notes like "where's the story, lance?"
> 
> (2) newsrooms are often just a mishmash of people, and i headcanon lance and hunk (in this universe, at least) as having played lax together during their time in high school. it's certainly not unusual for people at my newspaper to be tossing around baseballs or basketballs (there's a lot of space around all the computers), so i thought– why not a lax ball? 
> 
> (3) to quote the new york times code of ethics here: "Even though this topic defies hard and fast rules, it is essential that we preserve a professional detachment, free of any whiff of bias. Staff members may see sources informally over a meal or drinks, but they must keep in mind the difference between legitimate business and personal friendship." buying a source a drink isn't always a big no-no– and it's probably better than the source buying it for you– but in order to maintain objectivity, lance should not have been flirting on the job. 
> 
> and a note about the end– i based a lot of this fic just off of the idea of that article lance wrote ("finding love through fraudulent reporting"). that article is actually based on a real-life friend of mine, who had a hit story published in our school paper about how she met her boyfriend on tinder. so in the off-chance you're reading voltron fanfiction: hi jamie!!!! thanks for the inspiration and i love you!!!!!
> 
> anyway, these were the big things that stood out to me as potentially confusing/interesting, but i'm also happy to add to this list if anyone has questions. hope you enjoyed reading this! HUGEEEEEE thanks to my pals pev and yui for looking this over before i published it too. big hearts for y'all.
> 
> also– come hang out with me on tumblr @breadpoetsociety or twitter @breadpoetsociet.


End file.
